


We must

by Dusthumia (Zeitgeisty)



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Bittersweet, Canon Compliant, F/M, Gen, Hope vs. Despair, Mental Health Issues, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:36:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25444783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zeitgeisty/pseuds/Dusthumia
Summary: Uncertain what the future might hold for the survivors of "Danganronpa", they decide to step into the light, that emanates onto them. A ray of hope which only exists, because certain friends wanted them to survive and move on.Faced by this situation our protagonists find themselves in a world, that might occur usual to most people, but to them it could even be worse than what they experienced so far. A constant struggle against the fear of being caught by their pursuers, their daily life challenges, and the problems, that emerge inside the group will put their cohesion to a test.
Relationships: Harukawa Maki & Saihara Shuichi & Yumeno Himiko, Harukawa Maki/Saihara Shuichi
Kudos: 11





	We must

**Author's Note:**

> After I played Danganronpa V3 I needed to write something about it. I'm not sure, if I'm doing the characters or the story justice, but I will put my heart into this. I may not be a talented writer, especially since I hibernated for quite a while and never posted something on this forum until now, but I am confident that my ideas will entertain some of you.  
> Please enjoy. <3

Blinded by the brightness, which emanates from the ceiling, the three survivors cover their faces with their hands. Regardless of the unpleasant feeling in their eyes, they are unable to look away. The feelings of beloved and benevolent friends are shining through. Yet, this newfound freedom is nothing more but a hole in a wall, created by brute force, an explosion, that caused the destruction of the dome keeping them prisoners. Standing there, with a smile on their lips, the Ultimates feel like the torture, they went through in the few past weeks, was not for naught. Now they must ensure, that the promise they made with the deceased will come true.

"It almost seems like, with his final action, he wanted us to move on", the dark-haired boy decides to break the silence.

Both girls look at him, not startled by his words, but a bit surprised by his conclusion of Keebo's final message.

"Nyeeeh. Of course, he wanted us to not lose hope and move on", the Redhead states explanatorily, "He was our friend. Also I was pretty sure all the time that he wouldn't kill us, cuz he wanted us to live on and spread hope as much as we could!", Himiko goes on, proudly putting her hands on her hips smiling widely.

"Is that so? How'd you figure that out?", the brown-haired girl asks in remark to her cheeky expression, already knowing the answer.

"Why, of course it was mag-," she hesitates from going on, "It was because I believed in Keebo", she corrects herself.

Now the detective finds himself being caught off guard. Putting a hand on his chin, covering his mouth completely in the process, he is not able to deny, that Himiko had grown so much as a person, since they first met, "I agree.", he says smiling, "While I did not figure out, that we will survive for sure or that it would turn out this way, I was convinced, that "Keebo's" intention wasn't kill, but to help us."

" _Al_ _though I'm quite sure, this Keebo wasn't the same Keebo we knew_ ", he thinks to himself, not wanting to shatter Himiko's beliefs.

"I'm glad both of you shared your minds", Maki interrupts them, looking stern and a bit irritated, "The more important question is now, how to get out of here.", she looks up to the brimming light, "I hate to break it to you, but the hole is several feet above ground and even, if we manage to get through to there, we might not like what we find on the other site."

Suddenly the cheerful mood inside of them diminishes.

"You're right, Maki. Nonetheless, we can't lose hope.", trying his best, to stay positive, Shuichi goes on, "We'll surely find a way to escape from here and live on, not only as fictional characters in a fictional setting, but as real humans with real ambitions."

"Yeah!", is the word of approval he gains from the Ultimate Magician, "I'm absolutely sure, that we will make it out of here. After all I'm in the same team as Maki Roll and Shuichi", she grins, attracting a confused look from the boy and a stoic one from the other girl, "Your talents are perfect to solve the mystery of "how-to-reach-an-unreachable-area" and with me as the Ultimate Mage, the execution of the Escape Trick is guaranteed to be successful."

"Escape Trick?", the dark-haired boy asks, "Didn't you always use magic during your, um", he pauses, "Rituals?"

"Nyeh. Of course, I use magic", she explains abruptly.

"But you just said that it would be an Escape Trick", he counters, making sure that she understands his insinuation by putting an emphasis on his last word mentioned.

"I conduct magic during all of my magical tricks", she corrects the alleged detective, "Only cuz I use tricks in front of people, it doesn't mean I put a lot of magic into performing them. I thought you would be smarter than that, especially after I told you, what the strongest magic in the whole world is", the mage appears to be disappointed.

"C-certainly, how I could I forget that. Sorry, for doubting you, Himiko", Shuichi says with an apologetic voice, unable to face the magician.

"It's all right, after all I'm still the Ultimate Mage, I only decided to use magic tricks, so you two could compreha-," the mage stutters, thinking of the correct pronunciation of the word, "Comprehend, what I will be doing during our Great Escape. If I conjure real magic, it would be easy teleporting myself out of here, leaving you behind", she boasts, having her smug attitude back.

A loud sigh of annoyance emits from quiet participant of this conversation. Both glance at her in an apologetic manner.

"Sorry", is the only word Himiko uses.

"It's fine. You have a point after all", taking that as a confirmation for her magic skills, the Redhead wants to continue bragging, but is interrupted by the assassin yet again, "Shuichi and I should be able to overcome this obstacle. He should find a way how to reach the spot and my part would be to execute the plan", she calmly mentions while running her fingers around one of her pigtails.

Taken by her more analytical approach to the task, the Ultimate Detective smiles, still thinking about, what might expect them on the other side of this wall, "You're right, Maki. But before we try to get out of here, it would be best to prepare. As you said before, we still don't know what awaits us, if we move on, so we should gather things like clothes, food, medicine and other stuff. I'm sure, we will still find some useful items around here."

Wanting to get out of there as fast as they could, but also not stupid enough to believe, that everything would turn out well for them, when they reach the outside world, the girls agree with Shuichi's plan, although it would get dangerous for them to walk through a building that could collapse even further, they are willing to take the risk. Deciding to split up, Himiko looks for long-lasting food in the leftovers of the dining hall, Maki visits the ruins of the dorms for one last time, searching for clothes and like while the detective himself tries to find tools, needed to accomplish their Great Escape. They agree on meeting up in front of the wall, once each of them collected all the necessary supplies.

* * *

A few hours later, Shuichi is the first one to arrive. He went through the ruins scanning everything that could be used for reaching the hole in the wall. He took a couple of ropes, tied them together as tight as he could, using figure-eight knots he learned from detective novels, were they would be often used to hang someone, at the tip of one of the ropes he attached something, he could only describe as a butcher's hook, that should serve as a grappling hook, if everything would turn out the way he imagined. To make his plan work, he needed elastic strings luckily, he found some. They appeared to be bowstrings.

" _A butcher's hook and bow strings, although I have seen neither any dead animals nor an Ultimate Archer here. Monokuma really wanted us to use a lot of creative ways to kill each other_ ", he concludes.

Analyzing the area, he discovers two convenient placed parts of debris and starts to build his contraption. By intertwining the bowstrings with each other and spanning them around the debris, he now has crafted something, that resembles an extremely basic form of ballista. Wiping the sweat off his forehead, he tries to calculate, if his idea might work. Carefully placing the hook onto his mechanism, he exacts tension onto the strings. Slightly more and more until he is satisfied with the distance and altitude between the debris, the ground and himself.

"I-It really could work!" he mumbles joyous.

Now taking aim at the target, not knowing, if he could make it this far, he is ready to release all the tension that built up inside him up to now.

"You should let me do this", a calm voice startles him. Not expecting to be watched, he nearly shot the hook into the wall in front of him.

He turns his head and discovers Maki and Himiko standing behind him. Slowly releasing the tension of the strings, he puts the hook down into the gras. Now facing them, he notices that they were carrying six jam-packed, white-colored backpacks in their hands and on their backs with Maki carrying even more, not being exhausted in the slightest compared to Himiko, who might be on the brink of collapsing.

"So", the detective takes a deep breath, "You choose to take those, huh?", he asks, covering his mouth and avoiding their faces entirely.

"We didn't have much choice. After all she was the only one, who's uniform had any means of transportation besides pockets", the brown-haired girl states as she was putting down the things she carried, walking up to mechanism Shuichi created.

"I guess so, hm", are the only words he could come up with, still having the image of the person on his mind, who originally wore them. 

"Nyeeeeeeeeeh!", is the exclamation, which brings him back to reality, leaving sorrow behind.

"Shuichi, I could really use your help over here.", the mage yells, "I found so much water and food, thanks to my magic senses, that my mana is at a new time low. Therefore, I grant you the privilege to assist me in carrying the backpacks."

Stepping toward her, sighing, he relives her of the astounding heavy weights, she was carrying, since she left the leftovers of the dining hall.

"Thank you", she says playfully, while crossing both of her index fingers smiling, "You're surely proud of me for being so useful, but for the sake of fairness I must note, that Maki helped me searching, after she finished her quest."

" _Judging by the amount of food you have gathered, your demeanor and the fact, that you didn't have any way of transporting the it until Maki showed up, I could guess that she was the one doing most of the work, you know_ ", the detective deduces for himself, but decides not to break her illusion and plays along by declaring, "Great work as always, Himiko."

"Hehehe, one of my more simpler skills, but as long as it brings you joy I-", she is broken-off by a loud sound coming from Shuichi's contraption, causing her and the detective to immediately look at Maki, who fell on the ground due to the force that came from releasing the tension inside the bowstrings.

She had already fired the ballista, trying to create an escape route. Unfortunately, she misses, creating a clearly audible bang as the grappling hook hits the wall.

"Damnit!", she curses, standing up and blowing onto the palm of her right hand.

"Did you hurt yourself, Maki?", the detective questions, closing the gap between them, being followed by the redhead. 

"I'm fine, don't worry", the dark-haired girl mumbled.

"I retrieve the hook, you stay here with her, Himiko", he suggests while walking off, without giving them a chance to comment.

" _Why do you haste so much, Maki? We share the same goal, but you really want to leave this behind you, don't you?_ ", breaking his thought by picking up the hook, he moves back to them.

"Just let me try again, this time I will hit it for sure", having her sight only set for the grappling hook, she reaches out with her hand.

Shuichi carefully places it in her slightly trembling hand, before looking into her red eyes, starting to remind her of the grave situation they are in, "This might be the only chance we have, you know? I put a lot of time into finding these materials. I'm almost absolutely certain that we can't replicate them. Please use uttermost attention when you're shooting this time."

A little shaken by the seriousness in his voice, Maki takes the item out of his hand nodding, avoiding his gaze.

Himiko, feeling uncomfortable due to the shift of the mood, pouts, "There is no need to say that, Shuichi. You would've probably missed, too. Maki has a lot of pressure on her shoulders, you know.", she states, wanting them to get along together again.

"Y-yeah, you're right. I'm sorry, Maki", putting his right hand on his temple, he realized that he might have gone a bit too harsh on her, " _Still..._ "

The assassin gives him a brief, featureless expression, before attending to her task again.

All three Ultimates are now engaged with the "Escape Trick" that shall break them free once and for all, making Danganronpa nothing more than a painful memory. The assassin takes aim, spans the ballista, regulating her breaths into a rhythm until they become only a faint movement. Emptying her lungs, having the precise angle she wants to have, the girl releases the hook, falling onto her butt in the process. Tension running through all three of them, while watching the shot. On its last few inches, it flies nearly vertically up, passing the hole, before coming down again. The tip of the grapple still faces the simulated sky. A silent "Come on" is audible from the spectators and as if they were heard by someone or something, the hook hooked. It got stuck on the edge of this world.

"Yaaaaaaaaaay!", the silence was broken yet again, "I knew you could do it, Maki Roll!"

Overjoyous they smile widely.

"Finally, we can get out of here", the crimson eyed girl points out in an untypical emotional voice.

Shiuchi closes in on the wall while the girls celebrate, pulling strongly on the rope, to make sure the hook would support their weights. As he suspects, the knots didn't dissolve, and the hook got stuck tightly.

"The rope holds up", he mentions, "Now the last thing we should discuss is, to prepare for what might be on the other side."

Looking nervously, Maki goes back to the place, where she dropped of her baggage, picking up two heavy pieces of clothing.

"Since we don't know what is expecting us, I thought those might come in handy", she avoids looking into their faces while holding the objects in front of her.

"Bullet proof vests?", the dark-haired boy observes.

"Yes, we could be shot at during the escape.", she strengthens her confidence.

" _If they really wanted to kill us, without a doubt, they would've done it already._ ", the detective reasons, " _But I can't deny, if that's her sense of taking care of us, it makes her appear kinda cute in a clumsy way_ ", he gently smiles at her even though their eyes did not meet.

"Nyeh. I don't know how to put something like this on, we're also crammed cuz we need to take the supplies with us, you know?", struggling how to even make the climb to the other side of the wall, the redhead needs to stay realistic this time.

Loosing heart, the assassin wants to put the vests down until Shuichi speaks up, "I think this is a good idea, Maki.", he says cheerfully, "Don't worry, Himiko, if everything is going according to my plan, you won't even have to climb much yourself."

The girls seem a bit baffled by his words, not knowing what he is up to.

Sighing, the Ultimate Mage regains her composure, "If that's the case, please help me putting these on, Maki Roll."

As commanded and a tiny bit delighted the Ultimate Assassin helps to protect life instead of taking it. Shuichi decides to examine the supplies they have gathered. There is plenty of canned food and water as Himiko stated before, weak medicine and their school uniforms. Until he reached the fourth backpack, he was allowed to check the things in peace and quiet, "Nyeeeeeh! Not this one! It's dangerous!", he is suddenly disturbed during his investigation.

Jumping back quickly, the Ultimate Detective wants to know what could be this important and yet this dangerous they need bring along with them, "What is in it? A bomb? Weapons?", he is shouting.

"Something way more dangerous. It might blind you or turn you into a wild creature with the lust for more", the short girl exaggerates in a dark voice.

Dumbfounded he peers at the primarily red dressed person, who just finished lending the magician a hand, hoping she will enlighten him, "Underwear; bras, briefs your stuff too", she responds nonchalantly.

"Mine's in there, too?", he goes on with the feel of his heart rate increasing.

"You didn't wear them so far, did you?", she answers his question with another one in a mildly threatening tone.

"N-no, bu-", he flounders, being interrupted by the brown-haired girl again, "So it's only laundry, like the one you can buy in stores.", she concludes, getting back to her indifferent behavior.

Defeated he refrains from talking any longer about this topic. Putting off his shirt, like he did so often during the training with Maki and Kaito, tossing it on one of the backpacks, he puts on the bullet proof vest, before inquiring Maki again, "Anyway, where did you get these from, Maki?"

"I took them from my lab and placed them in my room. I hoped, that Monokuma might replace them, so all of us could have one. Unfortunately, to no avail", she explains while picking the ribbon on her sailor uniform, looking at the ground, "I figured, me, you, and-", she pauses shortly, taking a deep breath, "And Himiko could use them during our escape."

That is not what she wanted to say, but she manages to give her words just the right meaning, to make her lie appear reasonable. Shuichi notices that but decides to let it slide. The memories are to fresh and harmful, furthermore this is not the right place to talk about it. The Ultimate Mage however seems enchanted by her words and smiles brightly.

" _Still, your way of concern is touching, clumsy but I understand why you're loved by children, Maki._ ", the boy thinks during the time, he needs to put on his uniform again.

"You're a considerate person, aren't you, Maki Roll? I hope we will get to know each other better in the future", the mage states energetically, which causes the assassin to look embarrassed.

After their short heart to heart, they decide that now the time has come to get out of Danganronpa. The detective explains his plan for the final step thoroughly, causing the Redhead to feel sick and the assassin to agree with him multiple times. 

* * *

"Good luck, Maki!", the boy wishes her, "I'm sure, you will scale this wall easily."

"Of course, she will", the mage confirms, "She is Maki Roll, after all."

" _Optimism for no reason_ ", the assassin observes in her mind, " _Been a while, since I heard such nonsense_ ", not being able to hide a smile, she looks at them, "See you on the other side."

Receiving two nods, she places the three heaviest backpacks on her back, resulting in a rather strange display, and starts to climb the wall, using the rope. Step after step, grip after grip, slowly, but steady, she accomplishes to move on, evoking an increased heart rate in all of them. Contrary to their worst fears, she reaches the hole rather quickly. 

"As he suspected. The way down is a long way to go, too", she mutters to herself, breathing laboredly. Now sitting on the edge, letting one leg swing inside the world of Danganronpa.

Seeing only a black void on the other side, she takes the grapple off the edge and tugs on the rope two times forcefully, establishing visual contact right after that. Recognizing this, Himiko and Shuichi lift up the rope on their end. The minute the mage gives her a signal, she starts to descend into whatever she might await.

Acting as a counterbalance, the short-haired boy and girl carefully lower her for a few seconds until they lose the feeling of Maki's weight. Widening their eyes, being afraid that something has gone wrong, they receive two forceful pulls, indicating, that everything went smoothly. 

"Phew!", the detective seems relieved, "You're up next, Himiko."

Losing even more nerves, Himiko debates, "Do I really hafta? I will use my magic, after you-", the boy cuts her short, "I know, this is difficult for you, but Maki and I will be there to help you, alright?", he asks in the gentlest voice he could come up with trying to encourage her, "Once you leave this place, you can to bring hope and happiness to the world.", he stops for a moment and looks up to the hole, "Sadly, this is the only way out."

"Okay, okay, I get it, gee!", she yells while taking one of the backpacks, which is already able to strain her mana, "The future of a happy world depends on you now!", still not convinced by what is coming next, she tugs on the rope as powerful as she could. Realizing this, the the girl on the other side started to pull on the rope. Himiko understands that as her cue to start climbing.

Step after step. Grip after grip, she is approaching her goal, even faster than Maki. 

" _This is pretty easy_ ", the mage grins, convincing herself to do most of the work herself.

Reaching the hole as the second survivor of the killing game, she lets out a loud sigh of relief.

"Nyeeeeeeeeeeeeeh! I made it! I made it!", almost failing to contain herself, she sits on the same spot as Maki did a few moments ago.

Pulling on the part of the rope, that faces the Mastermind of this escape plan, Shuichi immediately confirms her signal with two pulls. In the same way, he assisted Maki, he now supports Himiko as a counterweight. And as before, he loses the feeling of Ultimate Magician's weight, the only difference being, that she needed more time to reach the bottom.

He receives two more pulls from the other side, "W-well then", he tries to cheer himself up, while taking the rope in until he feels, that someone is resisting his efforts, "Here goes nothing."

Wearing the remaining two bags, he starts to climb the wall like their previous conquerors. Even though he is being assisted by those, his ascent is the slowest of them.

" _This is taking a toll on all of us, huh?_ ", he summarizes the situation.

Step after step, grip after grip, getting even slower, he still manages to reach the hole, sitting now on the edge between fiction and reality. He pulls up the rope from the side, where he suspects his friends to be, unable to see them. Then he hitches the grappling hook into the edge again, this time it faces Danganronpa's reality and drops the rope to the other side. Knowing that this is the last sign, Maki and Himiko tug on the rope to make sure it would not detach.

Using this opportunity, Shuichi views over the ruins of the academy for one final time and shares this moment with the deceased, "Thank you everyone, without you we wouldn't be able to step into the outside world. I will make sure to make your wishes and dreams come true.", he promises full of hope.

As the last survivor of the horrid Killing Game, he descents into the darkness, emanating from reality.

**Author's Note:**

> First and foremost: Thank you for reading this far.  
> I hope you enjoyed the story up until now. I always welcome constructive criticism and since I'm not used to write texts of this length in English, I'd be pleased, if someone would comment on that so I might be able to improve that.  
> As someone, who really liked the concept and the story of Danganronpa, I wanted the story to continue and end in a more "satisfying" way. All 16 participants were really detailed in any category: backstory, character, quirks, their general appearance etc.  
> Although it might take a while to get used to writing, I will certainly try to improve during the following chapters.  
> Stay healthy, hydrated and have a nice day.


End file.
